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Hi Everyone! So my new book came out yesterday and it is already #1 Bestseller on Amazon! A concise, fun and easy to follow guide for celebrating the 12 Days of Yule (Heathen-style!), this guide includes:

My new book is coming out tomorrow and it will include:Activities for each of the 12 daysRecipesPrayersFolklore/ HistoryRitualsCraftsTraditions

All activities are family friendly but also great for individuals. ... See MoreSee Less

My new book will be released tomorrow! It will include:
Activities for each of the 12 days
Recipes
Prayers
Folklore/ History
Rituals
Crafts
Traditions
All activities are family friendly but also great for individuals.
Keep your eyes peeled!

Cooler temperatures really do require comforting and hearty foods. Sometimes the simplest of ingredients can truly make the most satisfying of meals. Plus you don’t have to sacrifice good nutrition or big bucks in the process. Those are all qualities of a winning meal in my book!

I am a big fan of beans. I really could eat them everyday, they are so versatile and packed with nutrients. But, I know not everyone likes beans as much as I do…I had some leftover cooked Borlotti beans from Rancho Gordo that I got in San Francisco during the Foodbuzz Food Blogger’s Festival. I needed to use them up, so I asked Roberto how he would like them to be prepared. He asked for “Cowboy Beans”. This comes from his growing up in Italy and watching old American Westerns on TV. In many of the movies, there were scenes of cowboys eating baked beans from a can. So as a child he always wanted to know what those cowboy beans tasted like. He tells me that he never imagined them tasting as good as when I make them. What a sweet husband I have.

My most recent rendition of cowboy beans also included carrots, and potatoes, to stretch the recipe and make extra for leftovers. I slow cooked them with smoked polish sausage. A perfect winter time meal!

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a dutch oven, or large oven proof pot add the bacon and brown. Add onion, garlic, potatoes and carrots, and sautee for about 5-7 minutes, stirring regularly. Once the veggies are getting browned, add the beans, tomato paste, water, BBQ sauce, maple and seasoning. Stir until veggies are coated with the sauce. Then add the sausage and put the lid on the pot. Cook at 350 for about an hour. Check to see if more liquid needs to be added. If so, add more water – and then check your seasoning. Cook for another 30 minutes. You can keep the pot simmering at a lower temperature, like 200 F, to keep warm until you are ready to serve. Just keep checking your liquid amounts.

Jenn,
I’m so confused. This looks like a great recipe, except for one thing. WHERE are the beans? I reread it 10 times to see if I missed something and then I read everyone’s comments and now I’m even more confused. Maybe “Cowboy beans” is code for a fabulous sausage dish? Or this is an intelligence test, which I’ve really failed. Anyway, I think I’ll make it and just add some beans…

When we spent 3 weeks away from home compliments of Hurricane Katrina one of the meals I “invented” was Cowboy Beans. I simply cooked some pre-sliced sausage in the microwave in a glass pie plate. I then dished some beans on each persons plate, topped it with a couple of slices of the sausage, added buttered bread and fresh fruit or a green salad and voila!

That’s hilarious! P couldn’t wait for me to make baked beans either…like from the can, he’d say, like they’d eat on westerns. ‘Course he’s not a fan of the sweet stuff, so he didn’t much care for the infusion of maple syrup, but I told him, hey, you wanted authentic! I think with sausage, he’d call this dish “una bomba”…I, on the other hand, would LOVE it

You know, I came over here days ago to look at this post, and somehow got distracted. Don’t ask me how!! Every time I look at those beans I get alarmingly hungry. I love a good bean pot… so nourishing!

I made the recipe exactly as you wrote it with the exception of the bacon … it was delicious. Thanks for the recipe!

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Thank you so much for all your comments. I enjoy reading each and every single one of them. Please keep them coming because I do appreciate the feedback and I apologize that I can't respond to everyone individially. See you in the blogosphere!